While robocalls are annoying, what's the moral justification for making this illegal? If a person is allowed to call you, why can't a computer? Also the line is getting blurred recently, so it seems like a problematic distinction at this point in time.
The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
141–150 of 432 posts
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
The FCC s already working on signing Caller ID, which sounds like what you're proposing, or similar to. https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication
Thanks for the link! It looks like it's on track to be implemented this year. I must admit I am _very_ pleasantly surprised to see a project of this scale on track to be completed in under two years (knock on wood). For everyone's sake, I hope it works as advertised!
For an industry known for its ponderous glacial pace, thats basically a record - nothing ever moves that fast.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I need a phone number (and a phone), I go to T-Mobile, sign up with my credit card and get a phone number. Whoever is giving me this phone number, I think, should be held responsible if I'm doing stupid calls. The companies issuing the ability to robo-callers to do their work are enabling robo-callers to do their work (scams). Last time I tried to trace down a call, I stopped at a company called OnVoy and got dist…
If I need a phone number (and a phone), I go to T-Mobile, sign up with my credit card and get a phone number. Whoever is giving me this phone number, I think, should be held responsible if I'm doing stupid calls. Not a good idea. I get where you’re coming from, but we don’t hold ISPs accountable for people using the internet badly. That would be a change for the worse. Imagine if Comcast had to terminate your service…
That already happens:
"AT&T Threatens Persistent Pirates With Account Termination"
https://torrentfreak.com/att-threatens-persistent-pirates-wi...
The question isn't "can this be done?" It is: can this be done, fairly, effectively, reasonably, and with appropriate safeguards?
The fundamental principle of regulation is that it applies methods and actions which can be harmful if misused. The key is to ensure they're not misused. Not to ban the concept of regulation entirely.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#144While robocalls are annoying, what's the moral justification for making this illegal? If a person is allowed to call you, why can't a computer? Also the line is getting blurred recently, so it seems like a problematic distinction at this point in time.
Because many, if not most of these calls are scams.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried it, and within a week I missed an important call. I was waiting by the phone, and it just never arrived. I realized too late that it had been silenced. It's very frustrating that we can't just get something like a spam filter, rather than a blanket "silence everything unknown."
Yeah part of the problem is there are tons of legitimate businesses out there that will do important things only over the phone, from obviously an unknown number, where if you miss the call it becomes a big hassle to get back in touch with them. Happens with banks and other financial institutions, doctors offices, deliveries and all kinds of other services. It would kind of solve the problem if a norm emerged that th…
Business opportunity.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#146I have a question, why are robocalls such a problem in the U.S.A.? As far as I know, they aren’t in Germany (or if they are, not on that level, I never got one).
Could be a matter of population. 300 million residents vs 83 million means they have a larger pool of gullible people to target. I don’t mean that to sound mean, really. It’s just a fact that this is a numbers game for these scammers and they want to find the most number of people who will fall for what they’re peddling and milk them for everything they can.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#147Very simple: Telcos are incentivized to allow robocallers so that they can sell robocaller blocker services.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#148I have a question, why are robocalls such a problem in the U.S.A.? As far as I know, they aren’t in Germany (or if they are, not on that level, I never got one).
There are a lot of people living outside the USA who can speak English. Both legitimate and fraudulent English-language call centers are easier to set up internationally than German-language call centers. The robo part of the call can obviously be automated from anywhere but there are actual humans pretending to be from "Apple Support" when a target responds. That raises another question: are other Anglosphere countr…
Canada definitely is. It is clustered, but there are days when there are a dozen scam calls (a recent one outright spoofs the governments phone number, and then calls you back with a spoofed police number).
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah part of the problem is there are tons of legitimate businesses out there that will do important things only over the phone, from obviously an unknown number, where if you miss the call it becomes a big hassle to get back in touch with them. Happens with banks and other financial institutions, doctors offices, deliveries and all kinds of other services. It would kind of solve the problem if a norm emerged that th…
Business opportunity.
I agree there’s a business here, but will walled gardens let the solution work optimally? Apple locks down their phone and messaging apis so that nobody can use them.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes they show up spoofed to a local area code. Sometimes they show up as from the 800 area code, which is not specific to any geographical region in the United States and is also used by legitimate call centers. My bank's customer service number is an 800 number, for example. I don't know if easily spoofable phone numbers are unique to the US. But even if they are not, international scam-calling operations are…
Yeah, but when the call is originating from outside the US? Why would that be allowed?
Do you know what an Indian call center is?
A huge amount of international phone traffic comes to the US every day